Stop and search

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

The police have powers to stop and search you if they have “reasonable grounds to suspect” you’ve committed a crime or are carrying an illegal item.

But the Government is responding to the rise in serious violence by making it easier to use so-called “Section 60” stop and search which allows officers to search you for a certain time period without any actual suspicion.

WHY SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED?

People of colour are unfairly targeted for stop and search, and discrimination is at its highest for 20 years.

Under regular suspicion-based stop and search, you’re 10 times more likely to be subjected to it if you’re black – even though the rate at which the police find prohibited items is broadly similar across all ethnic groups.

Discrimination is even worse under suspcionless Section 60 stop and search. Outside of London, you’re 43 times more likely to be stopped and searched without justification if you’re black than if you’re white.

And the Home Office has made it easier for police to stop and search people despite it’s own research, the College of Policing’s evidence, and the last Government’s Serious Violence Strategy all saying there’s no evidence that increasing stop and search reduces crime.

This reactionary policymaking ignores the damage racist policing does to communities. Research shows that unfair use of stop and search further marginalises minority communities, destroys their relationships with the police, and funnels young people into the criminal justice system.

WHAT ARE WE CALLING FOR?

We’re calling on the Government to scrap suspicionless Section 60 stop and search and to limit remaining powers to prevent abuse.